I am so relieved to have found this site. My wife received the first threatening letter a month ago telling her that she owed $59 including penalty for a bounced check of $14 that supposedly she wrote to Ames department store in 2000. Ames department store has been bancrupt and out of our area for a couple years now so it was conveniently impossible for them to confirm that we paid them.
When I called to speak to Lori Brown, the contact on the letter, she was not in and the lady on the other end of the phone would not let me speak to any of the attorneys listed on the letter-head. She said that all she could do is note that we were disputing the bill. Here it is a month later and today we got our second letter and this time it states that we now must pay $103 to clear up the $14 debt. Upon calling them I asked to speak to an attorney and the "representitive" told me that they would only tell me what she was telling me. She said that the additional moneys was for penalty and that they would continue to go up even if I paid them anything other than the full amount of $103.
There would be no end to the charges until the total of all penalties were paid or proof that the $14 bounced check had been made good in 2000. She said that the only proof that they would accept was a cash receipt of payment. A cash receipt for $14 that I was supposed to hold on to for ever? I insisted on talking to someone of authority so she said that she would connect me to her supervisor, the infamous Mr. King that all the other letters refer to. I was then disconnected. I called back and demanded Mr. King, the phone went dead. I just finished emailing my local television station's consumer protection department and hope that the word gets out soon. Can these creaps really hurt my credit rating?
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